CHARLOTTE, N.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — You’re not the only one who has to stand in long lines in the sweltering summer heat to update their driver’s license or register their car.
“All day.” Being parked outside of a Charlotte DMV office, Juvelli said, “It’s like going to work.”
People in North Carolina are waiting in line for hours at DMV offices all over the state. They set their watches early, take the day off work, and bring their own seats.
“Of course I knew I was going to the DMV, so it’s going to be a while, so I better get ready,” Alaina Burgess said, pointing to her chair.
For cars all over North Carolina, waiting in line for hours on end has become the norm. But many are starting to wonder if it really needs to be that way.
“It’s been really hard.” “Very hard,” Burgess said.
Wayne Goodwin, the commissioner of the North Carolina DMV, says the answer is easy: they just need to hire more people. The state’s population has grown by about 2.4 million people in the last 20 years, but the DMV hasn’t had much time or money to make changes.
“It’s clear.” It’s just math. As Goodwin put it, “We need to hire more people to make sure that service is quick and efficient, and that lines and wait times are cut down.”
But it’s not as easy as it sounds to do that. To add jobs, the DMV needs to get permission from lawmakers since it is a state body.
The office asked for permission to hire dozens more licensed examiners for jobs all over the state last year. None of them were accepted in the end.
Goodwin said, “We will keep making our case that we can’t do what people want until we have more people.”
Since then, the DMV has had to close two locations briefly because they don’t have enough staff. For those who are left, the lines keep getting longer.
Try to stay cheerful while Burgess waits in line in Charlotte. It’s been almost ten years since she last drove a car, but she’s now in line to get her license. Because she is crippled, she needs a special kind of car.
“My boss gave me a chance and offered to put down a down payment on a car, pay for me to learn how to drive, and pay to have the car lifted so I can control it with my hands,” she said.
A few hours in line is nothing for someone who has been waiting for years.
“The complete freedom to drive.” “I’m very happy and glad to be safe on the road,” Burgess said. The agency has asked for more jobs and also has about 70 open roles, according to Goodwin. He says that 12% of the apartments are empty.